Chris Hedges? Pfffft! You guys are always quoting the nutjob lunatics. What a waste of the pixels on my screen.
Chris Hedges
The writer Chris Hedges (and search) is typical of the confusion of the modern left over Christianity ("bad") and Islam ("good").
He writes an entire book, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America (2007), on Christian fundamentalists in America, who, it is true, are nuts, but who have little power, little ability to change laws (e.g. the laws on pornography and gay rights got more liberal under Reagan and George W. Bush), and who violently oppress nobody and kill nobody.
It's fair enough to attack them, just in case they become a real threat, but it seems like he has a more sinister agenda when he ignores the vast, rolling, international Islamic jihad that oppresses millions in Islamic states and kills tens of thousands of innocents every year all over the world. This, surely, is what any enemy of "religious fascism" should be primarily focused on.
Not just does Hedges not see it that way, but he even makes excuses for the Islamic Fascists. See debate: Christopher Hitchens vs. Chris Hedges, May 24, 2007. Hedges says the Islamic religious maniac suicide killers are desperate and unemployed. Hitchens replies: "God forbid a KKK'er ... be unemployed, for Hedges would think it okay to noose black folks."
For confused lefties like Hedges, religious fascism is bad only if it comes from their own tradition. If it comes from strange third world people, it needs to be "understood".
With incredible arrogance and rudeness, Chris Hedges wrecked the graduation ceremony of students at Rockford College, Illinois, in May 2003, by forcing a rambling anti-American rant on the captive audience.
If people have actually come to hear his offensive left-wing theories about the world that's fine. But he should not inflict them on people who aren't interested, and who are having a special, important day in their lives. Even if Hedges' ideas made any sense, it would still be rude. As TimesWatch says: "Hedges seems to be droning in a world of his own, oblivious to context or nuance or even where he was, not acknowledging the hostile audience, who were understandably wondering what became of their graduation ceremony."
He actually said, as jihadis and Baathists organised to kill brave Americans to stop democracy: "This is a war of liberation in Iraq, but it is a war now of liberation of Iraqis from American occupation". This patronising, sneering cynic, with his Masters in "Divinity" from Harvard, actually described the brave American soldiers as "poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance and joined the army because it was all we offered them." As opposed to smart, strong, brave people making their own decisions to protect the West against its enemies.
The videos are hilarious, as many of the audience display their disgust with having this anti-American crap inflicted on them. One woman shouts: "You've already ruined our graduation. Don't ruin it any more, sir." They boo and hoot at this fool, as he ploughs on and on. Good for them.
Chris Hedges spews anti-American and anti-Israeli bigotry at the Rockford College graduation ceremony.
He cannot recognise evil or make the simplest moral judgements.
He absurdly claims that the Casablanca bombings were caused by some logical grievance, rather than coming from Islamic religious madness.
Hurray for everyone booing this fool. Good for you.
